Freedom
to
Speak
by Kat Tozier
Freedom
to
Speak
About a year ago, my first-ever published story, Finding My Voice, appeared in the Unleash Your Inner Magnificence anthology. That day was a huge breakthrough for me, and it rapidly led to great transformation.
The story begins by sharing that “I was raised being told to sit down and shut up” and that set the stage for decades of struggle for me.
I'm a naturally chatty person, who thoroughly enjoys conversations that are an exchange of ideas in which I learn new things. I'm also an inborn researcher who sees connections between things, and who loves solving mysteries and puzzles and creating systems - thus, it comes naturally to me to teach, as well.
Decades of suppressing these things - of not allowing myself to be who I am - lead to tremendous anxiety, chronic pain and chronic illness. Any time we are suppressing ourselves - our emotions, our grief, our truth - we set the stage for dis-ease, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.
Before the story of my truth was published, I had written some blog posts and an eBook; however, they were written in general terms,
skirting the subject of my personal experience. Once the story was published, I began stepping up more and more with my writing, revealing greater levels of my battle with domestic violence, gas-lighting, anxiety and depression, chronic pain and chronic illness.
Through the medium of writing, I was able to keep finding my voice and speaking up. It wasn't enough for me to completely heal this lifelong wound, though. While it's often difficult to write about your challenges and adversities - facing them again and coping with the continued healing that results from writing it out - it's still easy to continue to “hide” behind the scenes, whether it's book pages or a website. You're once-removed from the person reading it.
The next step for me was starting a podcast. As is typical for me, I did my research, learned how it all works, and conceptualized a plan. I surveyed women about what they'd like for content and episode length. I talked with other women who know the ins and outs of
22 | ElementsForAHealthierLife.com | October 2016